Additive manufacturing technologies use computer designs, such as CAD files, to generate three dimensional (3D) objects. The additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, usually comprises deposition, fusion, or formation of a material into sequential cross-sectional layers of the 3D object. One type of additive manufacturing, generally known as fused filament fabrication (FFF) involves a series of printed layers put together to construct a 3D object. The constructing material is extruded by an extruding head, also known as print head, of a 3D printer and is deposited layer by layer over a build plate to construct a 3D printed object.
The current 3D printing methods involve a slicing engine to produce a number of printable layers. Further, the slicing engine generates a tool path based on a set of slicing parameters. A controller provides the tool path to a printer/extruder that reads every layer and proceeds to create the object layer by layer.
FIG. 1 shows a flow diagram (100) of a 3D printing method used in prior art. The method includes a slicing engine (104) to slice a 3D object CAD file (102) into a plurality of two dimensional layers considering a set of slicing parameters (106). The slicing parameters (106) are parameters defined according to user specifications for example, but not limited to, width and height of the printable layers, the number of layers to be printed for 3D object and the like. The slicing engine (104) slices the CAD file (102) representing a 3D object into slices along an XY-plane. Thereafter, the slicing engine (104) generates a tool path based on the two dimensional slicing.
FIG. 1 depicts prior art wherein slicing engine (104) based on user specified slicing parameters (106) generates tool path instructions to print a given object. These tool path instructions are saved in a storage device, and are used by a 3D printer to print the object. There are numerous ways to construct the same object, each with varying amount of weight, mechanical strength, EMI/ESD shielding, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and other physical properties. Prior art does not pay any attention to these resulting properties while generating the tool path.
To highlight a specific example, there is a significant interest in the use of 3D printed parts in aerospace industry for light weighting. These parts need to be made as light as possible while meeting certain strength requirements. Another example involves the need for strong parts in Oil & Gas applications, which can be achieved by proper orientation of the tool path.
Therefore, there exists a need in additive manufacturing process to provide a slicing engine, which generates a tool path based on property analysis to construct optimized parts to meet weight, strength, thermal, and/or electrical requirements.